ALCESTER'S incredibly popular food festival has been cancelled - due to Storm Brian.

The "difficult" decision to cancel tomorrow's food festival comes as people are facing a severe weather warning with an alert issued for strong winds as Storm Brian is set to batter the UK.

In the past the festival has seen around 20,000 foodies from far and wide arrive in the town.

The free event, organised by the Alcester and Forest of Arden Food Festival, sees hundreds of stalls lining High Street offering a vast array of quality and unique produce.

During the event visitors can also tour St Nicholas' Church, including its tower from which they could see the whole of Alcester, and make a donation to the restoration fund.

A comment on alcesterfoodfestival.org.uk was posted yesterday.

It said: "Unfortunately we’ve had to make the difficult decision to cancel Saturday's Food Festival on the advice of the Met Office, our insurance company and stall/marquee providers due to impending storm Brian.

"We had to make the decision on Thursday 19th in order to give our stallholders enough notice so that they did not cook, bake or buy stock.

"We are all volunteers and put in a vast amount of effort to make the festival happen and we are all hugely disappointed with having to cancel, which will result in a significant loss but we have a duty of care to both our stallholders and visitors and cannot risk anyone being injured from flying debris."

The statement added: "We hope to see everyone again on May 19th for the next Alcester Food Festival."

While people have come out in support of the decision many others have criticised it, with some calling it a "joke".

Commenting on the Alcester & Forest Of Arden Food Festival Facebook page Sweet Genie said: "Very disappointed. We were looking forward to sharing our new liquorice drinks with your visitors. However, understand safety comes first and it must have been a tough decision to make."

Lucy Ballinger said: "Can’t the Greig Hall/town hall be used for some stalls?"

Paul Tattersall said: "Not buying this excuse for a second."

Kirk Guest said: "Well that's a joke!"

Reg Lewis said: "What a shame but safety comes first."

Storm Brian is expected to batter Britain's coast just days after Storm Ophelia wreaked destruction.

Heavy rain and gusts of 50mph are expected across southern England and the west of Wales on Saturday, and winds could reach 70mph in exposed areas.

The wild weather, caused by a "weather bomb" over the Atlantic Ocean, may cause coastal flooding and affect transport, the Met Office said.